Key Points:
This new quasi-alliance contractual arrangement turned a
failing rail project into a successful, on-schedule, below budget
procurement of additional trains.
What is the project all about?
In early 2003, RailCorp contracted with UGL Rail for the design
and manufacture of new train carriages, known as Outer Suburban
Cars (Oscars). The first two stages of this train procurement
resulted in 122 carriages. However, the last carriages were
delivered more than a year after the dates originally contracted,
and the drawn-out process proved commercially unsatisfactory for
both RailCorp and the contractor.
Stage 3 of the Oscar Project, which commenced in 2009, involved
the procurement of a further 99 carriages (an initial tranche of 72
carriages and a further tranche of 27) at a cost of around $445M.
The reason why this third stage was so successful was that, rather
than merely exercising an option under the existing contractual
arrangement, this final stage
